


1975

by the_tenerife_sea



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 1970s, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fluff and Humor, Gen, Kid Tony Stark, Not A Fix-It, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 01:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19735396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_tenerife_sea/pseuds/the_tenerife_sea
Summary: They didn't get the Tesseract in 2012, but they have one more chance...in 1975.____Or, Tony and Steve go back to 1975 instead of 1970, meaning a certain someone is five years old instead of unborn.





	1975

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for fun. It's very self-indulgent and pointless. Also I'm tipsy.

“What are you doing?”

The voice startles Steve and his head snaps towards the source. He doesn’t know how he didn’t hear another person enter the room — wait, does a child count as a person? A small person. What’s a child doing at a military base anyway?

“The door is closed,” the child says when Steve doesn’t answer. “That means Aunt Peggy is busy.”

“Aunt Peggy?” Steve echos.

“Why were you looking through the window like that? And why are the lights off? When Aunt Peggy is busy I like to sit in that chair over there by the door—”

“Tony!” A woman’s voice shouts from the hall. She sounds exasperated. “Where did you go?”

“Uh oh,” the kid says, and — holy crap. The kid — the kid is  _ Tony _ . He has to be. He looks about five years old...the age Tony would’ve been in 1975.

“Tony…” Steve whispers aloud and the child turns wide eyes towards him.

“Don’t tell my mom!” He says frantically. “I just wanted to see if Aunt Peggy had those mints on her desk because I like them a lot and she didn’t have any more in her purse when she was at my house yesterday—”

“I won’t tell,” Steve says to him. Shit. This is bad. Tony doesn’t seem to have recognized him, but he shouldn’t be taking any chances. He shouldn’t have gotten distracted in the first place, he’s here on a mission. “I um, I need to go.”

Tony’s brows furrow. “Aren’t you waiting to talk to my Aunt Peggy? I told you,” and Steve swears he sees the little boy roll his eyes, but the room is too dark for him to tell for sure. “She’s  _ busy _ , so we have to wait here.”

“I have something else I need to do,” Steve tells him, his hand already on the doorknob. “So,” he tips his hat. “Bye.”   


He’s three feet out the door when he notices he’s gained a miniature shadow. 

“Tony — I mean — young man, you should find your mother.”

“But I don’t wanna go home,” Tony groans. “The new nanny is awful and she doesn’t cut my crusts off like Jarvis does and dad is gonna yell at me for running away from mom again and Aunt Peggy said next time I’m at the base that she would show me the—” Tony cuts himself off with a gasp and Steve turns to see him covering his mouth with his hands. “You’re Captain America,” he mumbles between his fingers.

“Shit,” Steve says, eyes darting across the hall to a man with a notepad less than five feet away who thankfully doesn’t seem to be paying them any mind. The feedback loop in his brain is sending him nothing but panic, so without really thinking, he scoops up Tony in his arms and shoulders his way into a supply closet. Now what?

They’re in there for about ten seconds when there’s a light knock on the door. “Steve.” Shit. Tony. “I saw you go in there. I have the Tesseract. I think people are getting suspicious, though. Apparently, my facial hair makes me look unprofessional.”

“Shit,” Steve says again and yanks open the door, grabbing Tony’s arm and pulling him into the closet too.

“Oof,” Tony grumbles, brushing invisible dust off his front. “Easy there, tiger. If I didn’t know any better, I would think — Steve.” Tony gapes at him. “Why are you holding a child?”

“I can explain,” Steve starts, but is cut off by the little Tony in his arms exclaiming, “Captain America said shit! Twice!”

Steve splutters and nearly drops him, but adult Tony isn’t having any of it. “Jesus. I leave you alone for ten minutes and a  _ kid _ figures out who you are? I just had the weirdest talk with my own father and I was calm and collected the entire time, but you break character in front of a  _ kid _ , Rogers?”

“Tony!” The same woman’s voice from earlier calls again. “Anthony Edward, I  _ will _ be telling your father about this!”

“Mom?” Tony stops his verbal assault against Steve and turns towards the closed closet door. “Why the hell is my mom here—”

“Hey!” The little boy kicks Steve in the ribs. “That’s not your mom, that’s my mom!”

“What—” Realization flickers in Tony’s eyes. “Oh my god.”

“Yeah,” Steve says. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Shit,” Tony says back. “Me neither, buddy.”

“Well,” Steve starts. “If he tells anyone, nobody is going to believe him.”

“I mean, yeah. But that’s kind of fucked up, isn’t it? I already have enough trust issues. Do you want to be added to the list of people who let me down when I’m only  _ five _ ? I could barely fucking handle it when I was forty.”

“Tony, that’s not fair—”

“I won’t tell.”

Tony looks at — well, himself. His eyes narrow.

“I won’t tell anyone I saw Captain America,” miniature Tony repeats. “But only if you buy me some Junior Mints from the vending machine.”

“Oh, you little—” Tony makes a choking motion with his hand, but schools his expression quickly. “Okay. Fine. Let’s go find a fucking vending machine.”

“I know where it is.” Little Tony squirms in Steve’s hold until Steve lets him down. “I’ll show you.”

Tony grumbles some swears under his breath and opens the closet door for the kid, shoving the briefcase Steve assumes is housing the Tesseract into Steve’s hands and leaving him standing there gobsmacked.

As Tony and miniature Tony head down the hallway, Steve inconspicuously closes the closet door behind himself, leaning against the wall and tipping his hat to any passersby that make eye contact.

Tony appears a short few minutes later with no child in tow and yanks on Steve’s arm as he passes him. “Okay, now we really have to get out of here. I think the lady from the elevator is following me.”

Steve hastily matches Tony’s pace. As they’re going through the exit doors, Steve spots five-year-old Tony sitting on a bench right outside. The kid smiles and waves at them, his tiny hand covered in chocolate.

Steve laughs, and Tony gives his arm another yank, this one a little harsher than the last. “Shut up, Rogers.”

“You haven’t changed a bit.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Good,” Steve says definitively. “It’s a good thing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are nice. You can also yell at me on [tumblr](http://werewolvesau.tumblr.com).


End file.
